Hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen yesterday in a letter to Seattle-area officials offered to fund a more-than-$500M arena "with completely private money," according to a front-page piece by Geoff Baker of the SEATTLE TIMES. Opponents of the project, including the Port of Seattle and a major maritime union, said that it "won’t help future traffic congestion in the Sodo District and still threatens freight mobility and jobs." Hansen's group "needs to prod the Seattle City Council into changing its mind and giving him part of Occidental Avenue South for the arena," and Hansen viewed forgoing up to $200M in municipal-bond funding "as a necessary step toward that deal." The letter was signed by Hansen and his partners, former Sonics President Wally Walker and retailer Nordstrom's co-Presidents Peter and Erik Nordstrom. It is "not clear if they have the money, leaving questions about how the group would pay for an arena and teams, and no new investors were announced by the group." Going all private "would eliminate the Memorandum of Understanding among Hansen, the city and King County -- spelling out the terms to build an arena using municipal bond funding -- and allow the entrepreneur to pursue NBA and NHL teams within his time frame." Under the MOU, Hansen "first had to acquire an NBA franchise" before the deal’s November '17 expiration, but it is "unlikely Hansen would land a team before the MOU deadline" (SEATTLE TIMES, 10/26). Walker said, "Our priority is to get the arena because we think the NBA and NHL will come after that" (AP, 10/25). In Seattle, Jim Hammerand noted Hansen's group "wants the city to waive its admissions tax for the arena and to adjust (presumably down) the city's business and occupation tax rate for revenue generated out-of-town." Mayor Ed Murray said that the city will "review the latest offer" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 10/25). The Bring Back Our Sonics group's Twitter feed posted, "Hansen’s latest arena offer shows how serious he is about bringing NBA back to Seattle." SB Nation's feed: "A privately funded arena in Seattle became a reality. Which means the return of the NBA became a lot more likely" (TWITTER.com, 10/25).
